Pignoli Almond Cookies

These are the kind of cookies you would have at tea party. The kind of party where you break out the gold rimmed tea cup and saucer sets, lace doilies, silver serving platters, & linen napkins. There would probably even be pennant flags and pinwheels. Unfortunately I didn't eat these cookies at a tea party. I ate them on a rainy day in my yoga pants while reading a book about witches. I did however eat them while drinking a cup of almond infused black tea, so I suppose I am halfway there. Whether you are wearing yoga pants or an Easter dress, these cookies are totally appropriate. These are such a spring sweet to me. The almond flavor is rich but still refreshing. And the pine nuts add a buttery crispness to the top of the cookie.
I used the recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. I didn't add the almond extract because the almond paste lends the cookies plenty of flavor. I also used far less pine nuts than suggested, because I am honestly not the biggest pine nut fan. I also didn't need to dip my cookies in milk before pressing the pine nuts on. They stuck just fine to the un-moistened dough. I used store bought almond paste, but am highly considering making my own next time. You basically puree blanched almonds with sugar until it's smooth. I have a fancy blender, so I feel like I should make the most of it. Has anyone ever made almond paste?
I am also in love with these dishes! I have the same plate in a different color, but I had never seen a matching cup. While I like the blue shade of the older plate, this lavender-grey has really won me over. Anthropoglie kitchenware always reels me in. I have been really good about not adding to my stock pile of dishes in the last few months, but I just couldn't help it?! Sometimes when I look at all of the kitchen related things I have I feel like I might have a slight hoarding problem. But then I remember about how good I am about maintaining minimal possessions in all the other aspects of my life. I don't have very many shoes or clothes. I don't have many books. It's just all cupcake pans & vintage saucers & hang printed napkins. Everybody's gotta have a vice right?!

Homemade Girl Scout Cookies

I grew up in Girl Scouts. I started as a Daisy and made it all the way to being a Senior. I was obsessed with the pins and buttons and patches. My neighbor Jen and I spent countless hours together working our way through our books trying to earn as many badges as possible. I distinctly remember having both a vest and a sash as Junior because I had too many patches to fit on just one. My favorite patch of all was an image of Juliette Gordon Low wearing a fancy dress, in shades of pink and brown. I liked it so much that my mom agreed to sew one on both my vest and my sash. One day a bottle of bleach leaked in the washing room, and it ended up coating a fair portion of my vest, whiting out all the batches. I cried for days.
Aside from earning all sorts of swag, Girl Scouts led to a lot of amazing opportunities for me. I went rappelling. I went canoeing. I went to sock hops & lock-ins & tons of workshops. But most of all, I sold cookies. My sister and I sold countless boxes of cookies. I remember cookie season well. My dad would take our order forms to work and ask people to buy cookies, making sure everything was split evenly between us. We would stand with our troops at grocery stores every weekend. When the cases came in, our living room turned into cookie central. We organized each order in a different corner, double counting all the boxes to make sure everything was just right. And then it turned into a giant delivery operation. There is no doubt in my mind that selling thousands of boxes of cookies helped lead me to my life of baking. The excitement that only came once a year now comes every week as I sling baked goods on the daily.
The Girl Scouts started selling homemade cookies in the early 1900s, but starting using factories in the late 30's. Currently there are two licensed Girl Scout cookie vendors, ABC and Little Brownie Bakers. This year ABC revealed that four of their cookies were vegan! Those are the Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Patties, Thanks-A-Lot, and Lemonades. The only problem is that the vendors generally sell cookies in different regions. I haven't been able to find any of the vegan cookies in my area. While I am sure that I could wrangle a few boxes online, my conscious won't let me do it. The point of Girl Scout cookies is for the girls to be actively involved, and they intentionally don't allow online sales to promote hands-on learning. Since I can't find the vegan cookies in my area and the cookies I crave the most still aren't veganized, I don't feel too bad about baking my own. I really liked the filling from the samoa hamantashen I made, so if the caramel recipe seems familiar now you know why.


Shortbread Cookies
1 cup Earth Balance margarine
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup powdered sugar
2 cups flour
8 oz chocolate chips
1 tbl coconut oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat the Earth Balance until fluffy. Add vanilla and powdered sugar. Beat until combined. Add flour in two parts. Mixing until a thick dough forms. Roll dough out between sheets parchment, with additional flour to sprinkle if needed, until 1/3" thick. I cut the dough using a 2.5" cookie cutter and then cut the center with a piping tip. Alternatively, if you have a donut cutter it would be great to use here. Bake 15-19 minutes until edges are browned. Allow to cool completely. While the cookies are cooling melt the chocolate and whisk in the coconut oil. Dip bottoms of shortbread in chocolate and allow to set.

Coconut Caramel
1 cup full fat canned coconut milk
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoon Earth Balance margarine
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

In a small sauce pan combine coconut milk, brown sugar and Earth Balance. Allow to come to a low boil. Simmer for 20-25 minutes until the mixture has thickened into a syrup and smells like caramel. It will also darken in color. While this mixture is simmering, spread your shredded coconut on a sheet pan and bake at 350 degrees for 4-7 minutes. After 4 minutes stir the coconut to ensure that the coconut isn't browning unevenly. Remove when half of the coconut is lightly browned and continue to stir on the pan while it is cooling, as the coconut will continue to toast while the pan is hot. Stir the coconut and the vanilla extract into the caramel.

Assembly
I found it easiest to pipe the caramel onto the cookies. You don't need a piping tip, just cut the bottom of the bag. I piped a ring around each cookie, then lightly pressed the caramel flat with my hand. I had a little trouble with it sticking to my hand instead of the cookie, so I lightly greased my palm with coconut oil. Drizzle the remaining chocolate in stripes on the top of the cookie. I added a few more chocolate stripes than you would find on a classic samoa. But who can blame me, there's no such thing as too much chocolate.



If you have vegan Girl Scout cookies in your area and are interested in arranging some sort of mail swap, I am all ears! I could trade you all sorts of terrific vegan goods from the DMV area. But there are a few things to keep in mind when you are dealing with the girls!


Heck yeah! The Girl Scouts are amazing for a whole slew of other reasons too. Like their huge push in science, math,& technology programs and their trans* acceptance! Was anyone else in a troop growing up? Or do you have children that are currently involved? I would be really interested in hearing what sorts of events were popular these days.

Cheesecake Brownies

Sometimes you need a recipe in your arsenal that takes no time or effort to prepare. It bakes while you are paying bills or doing laundry or some other pesky task that always ends up falling on your day off. These brownies are one of those "recipes". I am not ashamed to use a box mix. Sometimes it's just really convenient. I know that I can mix together flour and cocoa powder and sugar and baking powder. But sometimes it's just easier to dump everything out of a box, and not worry about if I ran out of sugar and forgot to buy more again. For the box mix, I generally prefer Ghirardelli Double Chocolate. There are a few other vegan brownie mixes, but I don't remember them off the top of my head. I found Ghiradelli and never went back. I have used all sorts of egg replacers when using brownie mixes. While blending a can of black beans is still one of my favorites, I decided to try something else this time I went with yogurt. I had a little cup of coconut yogurt ready to explode, and I thought I would make use of it. It worked really well for me. Just use 1/4 cup for every egg you need to replace.


Cheesecake Brownies
one 9" pan

One batch brownie batter*
8 oz non-dairy cream cheese, I prefer Tofutti
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 Ener-G egg

Make your brownie batter* (As I already confessed I used the box mix combined with 1/3 cup water, 1/3 oil, and 1/4 cup coconut yogurt). Pour 3/4 of the batter into a 9" pan that is well greased or lined with parchment. Make your cheesecake filling by blending the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and Ener-G together until smooth. Dollop the cheesecake filling on top of the brownie. Then spoon remaining brownie batter on top. Swirl lightly with a chopstick or butter knife. Bake at 375 for 45-55 minutes until a toothpick comes out almost cleanly. You want these brownies to be slightly underbaked so they stay incredibly fudgey.


Do you have a store mix that you turn into something more amazing than it normally is? I'm always interesting in hearing how people modify things to better fit their needs. I'm all into shortcuts lately. Between work, getting hooked on a book series, and getting back into a solid gym routine it seems like there is less & less time to spend in the kitchen. I have been comilingp a list of other quick desserts that will satisfy my sweet tooth. Baklava is next!

Campfire Bars

The whole beginning of the week was a buzz of snow anticipation. There were all sorts of magical predictions. I heard everything from five inches to a foot of snow was going to settle down on DC. I was baking tons of extra loaves of bread to keep up with the demand at the grocery store. Even I, the winter humbug, was starting to get excited about this snow storm. I stocked up on library books & flour and even splurged on two new boxes of tea in anticipation of spending my day off bundled under blankets watching movies and playing games with my housemates. I could practically smell the cinnamon buns. Today was not a real snow day. It snowed a lot, but nothing stuck and everything went along just as normal. I begrudgingly put on my boots and grabbed an umbrella and walked to my tax appointment to find that the office was closed. And no one bothered to call or email. After I walked home I changed into my gym clothes, only to receive an email that all the classes had been canceled for the remainder of the day. At least they emailed? These campfire bars are a lot like my "snow day". I had pretty high expectations, but they turned out to be lackluster and frustrating. Browsing around on the internet it looks like they have worked for almost everyone else except me. I think the culprit is the vegan marshmallows. While delicious, they don't melt quite like their gelatin-based counterparts. Because their was no gooey marshmallow coating all the bits of graham crackers and granola, my jar mix never actually formed bars. In the height of my frustration I did eat all the bits of marshmallow and a few Earth Balance soaked chunks of graham cracker.


After trying to finagle the two new flavors into my stash, I have also come to the brutal realization that I might have too much tea. I think I am close to 30 or 40 boxes & a few bags of loose tea. At one point this afternoon their was an avalanche from the cabinet when I removed a box (no, I was never good at Jenga). I am always itching to try a lot of new varieties, but end up with many boxes that I will never finish. So if anyone is ever interested in a tea swap, I am all ears! You probably shouldn't enable me, but I am also always open to tea suggestions! I am largely a black tea fan. But I also love rooibos, white, & all sorts of herbal tea. I will drink green tea occasionally, but it's towards the bottom of the list. What are your favorites?

Spring Fever Cake

I remember my junior high history teacher very distinctly. His name was Mr. Cecil. He was a crotchety old man with a strong appreciation for Tennessee history and high water trousers. He also happened to be my basketball coach during the same years. Which means I had the distinct pleasure of frequently witnessing him jog around the court in his above the knee, white linen shorts. Starting in March, I got to hear the same lecture twice every Friday in both class and basketball practice. It was about the perils of spring fever. How it warps the mind of many a dedicated scholar and/or athlete. One stops focusing on what is truly important and yields to the desire to frolic in warmer weather. I am currently a victim of spring fever. All I can think about is iced tea, bike rides, sunshine, & fresh produce. I have even succumbed to purchasing several pints of over-priced berries. I couldn't wait any longer. I wanted those bright, sweet & tart little bursts of pure happiness, and I wanted them now. I was even reckless enough to forego folding the berries into my standard morning fare of granola or oatmeal and instead piled them on top of cake. That I ate it for breakfast! I wonder what sort of lecture this would merit if Mr. Cecil could see me now.

Vanilla Cake
Makes one 6" cake, approximately 3 inches deep

1 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup canned coconut milk
2 tsp white vinegar
1/4 cup oil
1 tbl vanilla extract
1 Ener-G egg

Make Ener-G egg. While resting, curdle coconut milk and vinegar in a bowl. Add sugar, oil, and vanilla to bowl. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until just combined. Pour into a lightly oiled & floured 6" cake pan. If your pan is not 3 inches deep, then split the batter and bake in two pans. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. If you are baking the cake in two pans, you should reduced the baking time by ten minutes and check every few minutes until done.
Top with a thin layer of vanilla buttercream and layer on fresh fruit. I used blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries. After I cut the slices I served them with additional berries and slices of kiwi.


Spring fever has never looked so good. Is everyone else suffering too?! I keep trying to wear clothing that isn't quite seasonally appropriate yet too. I will don a cardigan, leave my coat on the couch, and then shiver running to my car, darting snow flurries. I am just so ready for warm weather and longer days. I feel infinitely better in every season that isn't winter.

Samoa Hamantashen

Two years ago was the first time I made hamantashen. I think Greg and I just googled vegan hamantashen recipes and made whatever we found. I remember them being good, but never saved the recipe. This year we decided to take on the challenge of making several recipes until we found one that we were blown away by. We made 4 batches over the course of 2 days. Two of the recipes were good. One recipe was mediocre. The last recipe resulted in pre-jammed biscuits. While I appreciate a good biscuit, it does not make for a good cookie. We also had a large number of our cookies fall apart during baking. I was upset. I don't take failure well, and frankly it has been a while since I have experience a baking disaster. I couldn't sleep because I was too busy trying to figure out how to make perfect hamantashen. Luckily for me, the next morning Greg's sister posted a round up post of interesting flavor combinations which offered an alternative to pinching the edges that I thought might work. But it also caused us to change flavor course. I was no longer satisfied with raspberry, strawberry, and chocolate. I now needed something more interesting. So I settled on samoa and he made a few of the PB&J variety. We still had cookies fall apart with the folding rather than pinching. I decided the main problems were that we were overfilling the cookies (who can blame us?!) and over-flouring the counter as we rolled them out. Once I remedied those two grievous errors, we had plenty of beautiful, photogenic hamantashen. The dough recipe that follows is adapted from the inspiration for the samoa hamantashen I saw on Kitchen Tested. I liked that dough, but my favorite was Hannah's recipe from Vegan Desserts: Sumptuous Sweets for Every Season. It's probably the recipe we will use again next year.


Samoa Hamantashen
halved & veganized from Kitchen Tested
1 cup Earth Balance
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup full fat canned coconut milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
Coconut caramel, recipe follows
13 oz chocolate chips, semisweet or dark.

Cream Earth Balance and sugar. Add coconut milk and vanilla extract. Beat until combined. Add flour in halves, mixing until a thick dough forms. Chill for at least one hour before using (make coconut caramel filling during this time). Roll out between parchment paper with as little extra flour as possible. This will help keep your hamantashen from falling apart. Add approximately a half teaspoon of filling to the center of each circle, then either fold the sides or pinch the edges together to create a triangle. Bake at 375 degrees for 11-14 minutes until the edges of the cookies are lightly browned. Once cookies are cooled dip bottoms in melted chocolate. Drizzle additional chocolate in zig zag formation over top of cookies then sprinkle remaining coconut from the filling on top.

Coconut Caramel
1/2 cup full fat canned coconut milk
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon Earth Balance
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

In a small sauce pan combine coconut milk, brown sugar and Earth Balance. Allow to come to a low boil. Simmer for 20-25 minutes until the mixture has thickened into a syrup and smells like caramel. It will also darken in color. While this mixture is simmering, spread your shredded coconut on a sheet pan and bake at 350 degrees for 4-7 minutes. After 4 minutes stir the coconut to ensure that the coconut isn't browning unevenly. Remove when half of the coconut is lightly browned and continue to stir on the pan while it is cooling, as the coconut will continue to toast while the pan is hot. Reserve 1/4 cup of the coconut for sprinkling on top of hamantashen. Stir the other cup of coconut and the vanilla extract into the caramel. This will fill at least 2 dozen cookies, potentially more depending on amount of filling placed into the cookie and the amount of times you eat a spoonful of caramel for good measure.


I ended up making extra coconut caramel and now I feel like I have to make more samoa cookies to really utilize the rest of it. Otherwise I will end up eating it with a spoon when I get home from work and am too sleepy to make myself a real dinner. I can't get the majority of those flavor combinations I read about out of my head. I can't decide what next year will be. Caramel apple? Spumoni? Who knows.

Black & White Cookies

I feel like I have become a bad gift giver. Not consistently, but sometimes. It's bizarre when it strikes. The panic sets in as I go through dozens of ideas in my head trying to sort them out. At Chanukah, I thought I had gotten my partner the best gifts possible. But I forgot to check the completely accessible book shelf. One of them was in fact perfect. So perfect that he had already been given it for a holiday a few years earlier. I eventually returned the book and replaced it with two pounds of vegan M&Ms. They disappeared quickly and all was forgiven. Fast forward to the next season of gift selection and I knew I couldn't bungle it again. I decided to go homemade, because it's just practical. I can make something that I know no one else has already gifted. The shortage of vegan black and white cookies has been mentioned a few times in our history, so I decided to finally attempt it. Having never eaten a black and white cookie I was a little nervous about this adventure. So nervous that I also bought two boxes of chocolate, you know, just in case. But everything turned out nicely, and we even had fancy chocolates to boot.


I used the recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, a tried and true cookbook. I used orange zest but omitted the lemon zest/extract. I also added 2 tablespoons of black cocoa powder to the chocolate portion of the frosting to make it darker. If you don't have black cocoa powder, you could still add a bit of dark or regular cocoa powder to enhance the color a little.
The baking of these cookies was a two part stealth mission. There is a little over an hour between when I get home and when he walks through the door after work. The first day I baked the cookies, hastily did the dishes, and then cleaned the house to remove any fresh baked cookie odor from detection. The next day I frosted these cookies really quickly while also performing neighborly duties. Someone needed assistance getting their 200lb scooter out of a truck bed?! Of course they knocked on the door right as I was ready to apply the fickle chocolate icing. I went outside and attempted to finagle the back wheel to the little ramp as he steered the front wheel. As the scooter started to roll down the ramp I had to quickly walk backwards hoping it wouldn't roll me over. My life flashed briefly before my eyes. I am not the most graceful, and there is roughly a thirty percent chance that I will take a tumble at any given moment. Luckily I safely made it back inside, got the grease off my hands, and finished frosting the cookies in time. So no hate for the imperfect frosting.


As we were snacking away and watching the X-files, I decided to research a bit more about black & white cookies. I was curious why the cookies were so cakey, and figured it out pretty quickly. They were basically a way to utilize left over cake batter created by bodegas and other small markets?! Have you learned anything interesting facts about food lately?